The proposed gondola route, as planned by Water Valley Co. to connect The Brands West, The Ranch and Northern Colorado Regional Airport in Loveland.

What do you get when you combine amusement park rides, Colorado slope-style transportation, and flying by the seat of your pants? Or should we call it a high-wire act?

If you guessed a network of gondolas with a two-mile radius that will transport 4,500 people per hour between the Northern Colorado Regional Airport, The Ranch and The Brands West, congratulations. Because that is exactly the vision developer Martin Lind, CEO and president of Water Valley Co., has for the northeast corner of Loveland.

Lind shared his plans at a meeting Thursday with staff from the city of Loveland, the Colorado Department of Transportation and from the United States Department of Transportation. Also present were Loveland city councilors Leah Johnson, Dave Clark and Mayor Jacki Marsh, and mayor of Fort Collins Wade Troxell.

The plans are only in the conceptual stage, and could look very different by the time Water Valley begins construction on the gondolas, and more broadly, The Brands and The Brands West. But, Lind already has money set aside and easements obtained for a two-mile gondola network and intends to move “rapidly,” he said.

Construction on The Brands is eight months behind schedule and is now set to begin in January, and the gondola network will be built within the first year, he said. The only holdups are some easements still to be worked out, such as for the airspace directly over Interstate 25, and then it’s full speed ahead, Lind said.

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